Wisconsin Oven Corp. shipped a continuous conveyor furnace to a firearms manufacturer. The oven will be used for heat treating aluminum parts prior to quenching. The furnace has a maximum temperature rating of 1110°F (600°C) and interior chamber dimensions of 4 feet, 2 inches wide x 30 feet long x 1 foot high. It includes 8-inch-thick plate construction and two zones of control. The parts are manually loaded onto the flat wire belt conveyor and transported through both zones of the oven. The recirculation system utilizes two 56,000-CFM blowers for a total of 112,000 CFM. The part heat-up and soak times were verified with temperature uniformity survey to guarantee the parts were within +/-10°F for 15 minutes.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been contracted to engineer and commission a continuous quench-and-temper furnace system for a North American manufacturer of mining, construction and material-handling products. This equipment will be part of an automated manufacturing cell and will be fed automatically from upstream handling equipment. Special considerations have been made to precisely control the quench temperature to reduce hardness variations and improve overall part quality. The multi-zone belt-style temper furnace employs high-efficiency, natural-gas-fired heating and recirculation systems, which have been proven to provide superior temperature uniformity in demanding applications. Can-Eng’s engineered control system, which controls and monitors the equipment, utilizes an Allen Bradly PLC and HMI. 

Oetzbach Edelstahl, a hardening plant in Germany that provides heat-treatment services, purchased a vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK. The medium-sized furnace is the third from SECO/WARWICK to be delivered to this facility. Vector technology allows the user to perform a range of processes from hardening through carburizing, nitriding and cryogenic freezing. The furnace, which has a heating-chamber size of 600 x 600 x 900 mm, enables the efficient heat treatment of tool and machine parts.

Forged Solutions Group Inc. (FSG), a provider of complex, precision forged rings and closed-die products to aerospace and defense customers, acquired Steel Industries Inc. Headquartered in Redford, Mich., Steel Industries is a vertically integrated manufacturer of open-die forgings and seamless rolled rings for the aerospace, defense, space and industrial markets. Since 1913, Steel Industries has forged components for the most demanding end-use applications. Steel Industries offers forging, heat-treating, machining and finishing services.

Solar Manufacturing Inc. received purchase orders for 10 vacuum furnaces in the third quarter of 2022. The orders ranged in size from the compact Mentor and Mentor Pro series to a large production furnace with a work zone of up to 72 inches long. The furnaces will be shipped to companies across North America in the following market sectors: aerospace, commercial heat treating and additive manufacturing.

Lindberg/MPH built and shipped a gas-fired cyclone box furnace to a manufacturer. The heat-treat furnace has a maximum temperature rating of 1250°F and a load capacity of 6,000 pounds. It is designed for air atmosphere applications and utilizes a high-velocity forced heating system. A circulation fan provides optimum heat distribution by delivering heat evenly throughout the work chamber through high static pressure airflow. The furnace is designed to accept fixtures that are 48 inches wide x 84 inches deep x 48 inches high, and a full-width roller hearth is located across the furnace chamber floor for manual loading and load support.

In 2020, United States industrial activity was directly responsible for approximately one-quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most of these emissions were associated with burning fossil fuels for heat, making the adoption of zero-emissions industrial heating processes critical to achieving U.S. climate goals.

Lenox Group, an aluminum extrusion profiles company, purchased a Nitrex turnkey nitriding system after adding a second extrusion press at its plant in Bulgaria. Faced with increased production and disappointing nitriding results from third-party processing services, Lenox opted to bring operations in-house to improve die reliability through more stringent quality control. In the end, a compact-size gas nitriding furnace for low-volume quantities best suited Lenox’s production needs. The plug-and-play nitriding system is built on a self-contained platform that includes the furnace, control system with Nitreg technology and an exhaust neutralizer for clean processing. Its small footprint allows it to fit into limited spaces. With a temperature distribution of +/-5°C, it is suited for nitriding H11 and H13 extrusion dies.

L&L Special Furnace Company Inc. has delivered an atmosphere-controlled retort burn-off furnace to a Midwest manufacturer of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). The furnace, which has a work zone of 32 inches wide x 32 inches high x 66 inches deep, has a single zone of control with a temperature gradient of ±20°F at 1100°F using four zones of temperature control with biasing to balance any temperature gradients. The parts are heated to 1220°F (660°C) in a retort chamber that is pressurized with nitrogen. The byproducts of the outgassing part are directed by pressure and flow out of the rear of the furnace. The parts are then heated in a vacuum furnace to temperatures in excess of 2300°F (1260°C). The result is a super strong component that is lighter than titanium.

This article considers the production deficits, logistics turmoil and demand surges that contributed to supply-chain disruptions that were brought into focus with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.